These super tender buttermilk dinner rolls are so fun to make and even more fun to serve to your family and guests. The aroma is incredible. And the oohs and ahhs welling up from the table make it all worth while.

Secret Ingredients Work Wonders: The secret ingredients in these dinner rolls to make them light and tender — dried buttermilk powder and dried egg whites. The buttermilk powder adds a great little tang of flavor and seems to tenderize the dough. And I like using dried egg whites because this works perfectly for a long-rising yeasted dough.

Rise And Shine: I use usually use fresh dairy for bread dough but, lately, I feel more comfortable using high quality dried substitutions when a long rise time is needed outside of the refrigerator. Leaving milk or egg products to sit on a warm counter for hours always makes me a little nervous. Plus (it might be my imagination but) I think these dried dairy products work miracles in this recipe over fresh. An added plus – dried dairy products travel easily for family “away” gatherings and make for great camp cooking.

Slow Food Set Aside Time: The mixing of ingredients takes just a few minutes but there is an initial 10 minute “shag hold”, there are 2 dough rising sessions that last for about 1 hour each and, once the rolls bake for about 30 minutes, the hot rolls should rest for about 10 minutes before serving. All total, that’s about 3 hours — so be sure to set aside enough slow food time to ensure that these heavenly rolls are not rushed to the table. Trust me, it’s worth the wait!

Bake And Serve Dish: We used a deep dish pie baker that moves easily from oven to table. I love the idea of serving these biscuits straight from the baking pan.Here are the rolls almost ready to go into the oven for a holiday feast…

2. Make a Shag Dough: Stir ingredients with a wooden spoon or Danish Whisk until the flour is incorporated into the mix but without forming a ball or squeezing the ingredients together in any way. Let the dough rest in this “shag” stage for about 10 minutes. Tip: The dough will be softer to work with once it sits on the counter for a bit.

3. Gather up the shag dough and form it into a ball. Knead the dough well with your hands by pressing it between your hands (if you think it will stick to the counter) and then, at the point when the dough is no longer sticky, knead it by pressing it against the counter and really working it out for 8 minutes. Tip: If absolutely necessary, you could add a sprinkle of extra flour to keep the dough from being sticky after the first 3 minutes of kneading it in your hands.

4. Wash your dough bowl, rinse it in warm water, dry it and butter it on the inside bottom and sides. Form the dough into one nice, big, smooth, round ball shape and place it in the prepared bowl to rest.

5. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit in a warm spot for about 1 hour. If the oven is free, put it in the oven with just the light on (no heat) and close the door. The top of the refrigerator is another good option. The dough should rise to at least to double in size.

6. Punch the dough once with your fist to deflate it and watch it sink (it will rise again).

7. Remove the dough from the bowl and divide it into 10 pieces, rolling and forming smooth, round balls. (The dough rises to its highest when the dough is nicely smoothed.)

8. Place 8 of the balls in a circle around the edges of a 9″ deep dish baker and place 2 dough balls in the center of the baking dish. (At this point, they will not touch each other…but they will grow.)

9. Use a water mister to spray the rolls lightly (or hand sprinkle) and let rise for 1 hour. The dough should rise to the top of your baking dish. I like to spray them again once or twice during this second rise phase to keep them moist and growing. Tip: Let the rise to the level that you’d like them to be as they will puff slightly in the oven but not too much more than the starting stage.

10. Just before baking, use a brush to baste the tops of each roll gently (so as not to deflate them) with 1 egg yolk mixed with 1 teaspoon of water. Tip: The yolk wash will seal in the moisture and make the tops of the rolls a gorgeous golden color.

Bake This Bread!

Bake at 350 degrees in a pre-heated oven on the center rack for about 30 minutes or until the internal temperature probe reaches 189 degrees and the tops of the rolls are a nice, rich, golden color. The egg yolk baste will keep the tops of the rolls nice and shiny.

I hope you will have a chance to make these yeasted dinner rolls one day soon for your family and friends. And after you make a batch, I also hope that you will teach somehow else how to make them as well. Sort of like bread baking-it-forward — to keep alive that most awesome kitchen craft of yeast bread making!